1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to the field of sit-down arcade video games. More particularly it relates to an improved booth or enclosure for housing a player of a sit-down arcade video game.
2. Background Information
Arcade video games are regularly increasing in sophistication. In many of today's arcade video games it is desired to immerse the player in a particular environment, for example, in a driving simulation game the player is placed in an auto cockpit looking at a screen presenting a road or race course In a battle simulation game, the player is placed in a warship, tank or the like and sent onto a battlefield presented by a video screen.
For a game to achieve maximum impact it is desirable to try to really immerse a player in the game and to try to involve the player in the game to the maximum most realistic extent possible. The goal is to focus the player's attention as completely as possible on his or her participation in the game.
One way to immerse a player is to provide a hugely stimulating experience which heavily loads the players' sensory inputs with audio and visual effects and overwhelms distractions. However, in the typical video arcade environment, games and players are stacked shoulder-to-shoulder with one another providing massive distraction opportunities.
Another way to immerse a player is to suppress distracting visual and auditory inputs such as by providing a booth or other enclosure which shields a player from these distractions. A number of such booths have been provided heretofore. While these booths do achieve some degree of isolation, they have unattractive characteristics.
One such unattractive characteristic is that typically these booths have been "side entry", much like a conventional automobile. This layout requires a free space alongside the game for entry and exit. This uses floorspace and is inconsistent with the geometry of nonenclosed games.
Another problem has been the typical booths do not permit spectators to watch the game being played to an acceptable extent. It is important to the economics of arcades and to the competitive nature of the arcade denizens, that spectators be able to watch and enthuse over one another's play. This interaction is needed to generate enthusiasm and popularity for the game. Obviously, efforts to isolate the player and shield the player from play-interrupting distractions can be directly conflicting with the spectators' needs.
In addition, many game enclosures heretofore used have had fixed position seats. Since video arcade customers typically can range from a three foot, ten inch nine year old to a six foot, ten inch adult, the fixed seat enclosures invariably compromise the comfort and/or quality of play for some players.
It is an object of this invention to provide an improved video arcade game booth or enclosure which effectively isolates the player from distractions but which avoids, to a great extent, these failings of booths or enclosures used heretofore.